12" 867g4 for editing?

Hello all,
first time poster here in the mac forum so please bear with me if this is a silly question.
I am about to convert from pc to mac and i have a few questions before i make that dive....

i am looking at a G4/867 256/40/combo 12" powerbook right now because it is the only thing in my immediate price range and time is a factor.

What i would like to know is, will this handle FCP and after effects rendering the way my P4 1.8 sony desktop did? would an upgrade to a gig of ram improve its performance past the pc?

thanks for the help guys. i couldnt find this in the archives but if someone does i would appreciate that too!

jr

[Jeff Donald]

It would be similar with the gig of ram, but the PC would probably be faster because of the faster internal HD.

[Josh Brusin]

I edit on site with a 550 ti g4... get a 7200rpm external drive and go... (256mb ram- yikes!- works though...)

remember to place all files (audio especially) on the 7200 drive or you'll get chirp city...

only problem with the 12" is the size of the screen...

ive got a 7200rpm 80gig external drive now, so thats good. the ram is ugly huh? my buddys got a gig that he would sell for 120, is that a good price?
do you have the 12" josh? is it a huge inconvenience? im probably gonna run another monitor or tv through the laptop when its at my place so i would only need to deal with the small screen for the summer

[Dave Perry]

I use an iBook 800 14" with external 120 gig 7200 RPM drive and 640 megs and have no problems. Some renders can be slow but using OS X over windows is a great time saver in the long run. Josh is correct about putting the media files on the external drive. I've modified my firmware so that I can run a spanned external monitor rather than mirrored.

http://www.dpgrafix.com/ibook

The PB will be a step up from the sony without a doubt.

[Glenn Chan]

1gig for $120 should be a very good deal. Check RAM prices over at www.crucial.com to figure out what kind of RAM you need for your laptop. Crucial is not the cheapest though, newegg.com and pricewatch.com/resellerratings.com will give you the lowest prices.

thanks dave, that makes me feel really good about buying it! i cant wait.
glenn, thanks for the links i will check those out - this ram is coming from his old g4 (he just upgraded to a 2g PB) so its used, is that a problem?

[Jeff Donald]

The PowerBook G4 867 MHz requires PC2100 DDR266 200-pin SO-DIMM memory. Older G4's (depending on the age and model) mostly used PC133 SDRAM. Check the model and I can give you the specs.

one other question...

I am selling my desktop right now (within the week) so that means im gonna be without a computer for at least 2 weeks. right now i am burning all my footage and music to dvd but i am wondering about how smoothly the transfer from PC to Mac process will be as far as my videos (.avi format) go. will the mac recognize this format or do i need to change it into something else?

Jeff, i dont know abotu the model number, the link is here http://www.smalldog.com/product/12651772 though if it helps (sorry im such a mac newbie: ) )

[Dave Perry]

Jerry,

Go to http://www.info.apple.com/support/applespec.html to find the specs on ram. Ram is cheap so if you are worried, or the module your friend has is not compatible, it won't be that big of a deal.

[Dave Perry]

Jerry,

Some AVIs will work on Mac OS and some won't. I would try on on a Mac first. It seems that AVIs are less compatible on Macs than QT files are on PCs.

I would suggest going to the Apple site and post in the QuickTime or Final Cut forums. Tell them you are a switcher and believe me, you'll get lots of help.

haha awesome dave! im a switcher! ill go post right now. thanks again.

[Josh Brusin]

I was using a 15"... I also was using an old jvc camcorder as a deck and out to monitor... (I trust that more than the video mirroring output on the back of the book).

as far as archiving footage... I'd suggest minidv... origin footage - any posted/effects stuff archive direct to drive. (If you have another mac around a good trick is to plug your laptop into the other pc firewire to firewire and reboot your laptop holding down the 't' button and it will appear on the other machine as a 'target' drive. Drag and drop your larger files... in the interim buy the firewire drive and back EVERYTHING up. NOTE you should always back up your iphoto.itunes.etc files as they will be replaces with any system upgrade and as they are nested in their goofy osx substructure they are also often forgotten.

good luck that 12" is snappy.

[Josh Brusin]

!!!!DAVE YOU ROCK. That's basically the main reason I avoid ibooks... hmmmmmmmm.
anyone want a 15" powerbook?
((kiddingish))
awesome.

[Dave Perry]

well, I'm on a low budget. I actually wish I had a G4 now.

You ought to tak a look at the refurbished Macs on the Apple site. Click the store tab then scroll to the bottom left and look for a red specials tag. The refurbs carry the same warranty as new products and you can purchase extended warranties just like a new one. I'm waiting to get an iBook G4 and use the same extended desktop hack I use on the G3 iBook.